Knitting machine needle



Feb. 11, 1969 R, BUCK 3,426,551

KNITTING MACHINE NEEDLE Filed Dec. 19 1966 Fig.1

Inventor.-

PM! Buck f" "United States Patent f 3,426,551 KNITTING MACHINE NEEDLERobert Buck, Eberhardstr. 18, Rottenburg (Neckar), Germany Filed Dec.19, 1966, Ser. No. 602,725 Claims priority, application Germany, Dec. 3,1966,

B 85,124 U.S. Cl. 66-119 Int. Cl. D04]: 35/08 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE The present invention relates to a needle for knittingmachines and knitting looms and more particularly to beard type needles.

The customary and usually used needles in knitting machines have astraight shaft, the lower edge of which extends from the shank end tothe head of the needle in essentially a straight line. A re-entrantbeard then is formed which, in the region of the head, is usually alsoessentially straight and then merges into a portion which is bent withrespect to the axis of the needle shank. When the needle hook is closed,it fits into a groove in such a manner that the beard of the needlebears against the bottom of the receiving groove. The portion of theneedle within the groove then is usually essentially parallel to thelower edge of the needle shank.

Needles, as customarily used, require precise manufacture, preciseinstallation and precise adjustment of the operating rail of theknitting machine in which they are used in order to prevent damage tothe needles. Since it is very diflicult to have all needles operate inthe same predetermined plane, the adjustment of the operating rail oroperating bar of the machine is usually chosen in such a manner that, inorder to avoid leaving one needle unclosed, the substantial majority ofthe needles are bent back farther than absolutely necessary, thusbending even the needle shank. The result of this overstressing is,however, that the needle tips, or the bottom of the grooves agains whichthe beards bear, are worn off; it has been noticed, in practice, thatsome beard tips can be reduced in length of from 1.8 to 1 mm. The beardtip bears on the bottom of the groove with a substantial pressure. Sinceonly the beard end of the needle contacts the bottom of the groove, avery small surface must absorb all the stress. Besides the wear on thebeard tip, the upper edges of the beards also get worn in the regionwhere the rail bears thereagainst, since the beard usually slides alongthe groove for a small extent, thus also rubbing against the operatingrail or bar.

A further difficulty with customary needles is the resistance of theneedle to transfer of the stitch. The stitch, in the knitting process,must be transferred to the closed tip, which, in machines such as warpmachines, is usually done by a chopper bar or other machinery part.These chopper bars act on the stitches at the point where the stitchconnects with the fabric already knited. Since the stitch is moved bythe chopper bar at the point of contact with the previously knittedfabric, the head, or formed loop of the stitch trails behind the pointof contact or point of operation and transfer. This is undesired,

3,426,551 Patented Feb. 11, 1969 "ice because if this trailing of thestitch is too much, the knitted fabric will not present a smoothappearance. In case the lag is excessive, the knitted fabric may miss astitch and a hole may result. This is the reason why the head portion ofthe needle, that is, the portion between the rail or presser bar and theportion of the needle at the end thereof, may not be too short, becauseotherwise the angle at the upper edge of the needle, in the upper regionof the edges of the groove, when the needle is closed, will be toogreat, and cause excessive resistance to transfer of the stitches.

It has previously been proposed to angle the tip of the needle away fromthe direction of the shank, in the region of the re-entrant bend. Such aneedle is already an improvement. Since, when the needle is closed, thelower edge of the entire beard bears on the surface of the receivinggroove, the beard is less subject to wear. Further, when the needle isclosed, a better shape is imparted to the entire assembly so that theresistance of transfer of stitches to the needle is decreased.

Even the improved needles have the disadvantage that the thread or yarncan be pinched when they are used with plain, or flat warp knittingmachines, since the closed needle point, to prevent wear, bears on thebottom of the groove.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a needle which canbe used universally for knitting machines and knitting looms, in whichexcessive stressing of the needle point and thus wear is avoided, whilestill permitting free movement of the yarn in the groove, even when theneedle is closed; and which. further presents a low resistance totransfer of the stitches and is universally applicable and stillprovides knitted goods of uniform and excellent quality.

Briefly, in accordance with the present invention, the needle has ashank with a groove formed therein. The groove is of such dimension thatit receives the re-entrant needle tip portion, or beard, with clearanceto permit free movement of the yarn to be knitted. The re-entrant tipportion of the needle is formed in such a manner that the upper edge ofat least a portion of the beard is parallel to the shaft, so that whenthe rail or operating bar presses thereagainst it completely closes theneedle when it presses against the upper edge of the shank adjacent thegroove. The needle shaft may be entirely straight, and a portion of thebeard may be angled off so as to be parallel when closed; or the needleshank may be slightly angled at its head end to provide for the beardbeing parallel to the shank, when closed, and still have clearancewithin the groove.

When the needle is formed as a tongue, or a latch needle, the tongue isessentially aligned with the shank, that is, is in line with or slightlyangled off with respect thereto, with the groove still being ofsufiicient size to provide clearance.

The needle, in accordance with the present invention, is so formed thatthe groove is deep enough in order to provide for a space therebetweenand the beard. Thus, excessive pressure against the beard cannot beapplied because the upper edge of the needle shank, where the groovebegins, limits the extent to which the needle can be pressed into thegroove. This space, between the lower edge of the beard and the groove,is large enough so that the warp in chain-stitch, lock-stitch, orloop-stitch machines can be inserted without pinching or impeding themovement of the yarn. Thus, the needle according to the presentinvention may be used for different kinds of machines.

Transfer of stitches to the needies according to the present inventionis simple, since the stitch is transferred in an exactly straight line,which does not present any taper opposing this transfer. The lower edgeof the shaft of the needle, which may present a taper, is placed closeto the point where the stitch joins to the already-made fabric, that isclose to the chopper bar, so that the chopper bar itself can overcomethe taper. When the stitch is cast 01f, there is little resistancebecause the remainder of the needle is straight and does not present anyresistance above that of friction, which can be readily overcome, sothat the lag of transfer of one portion of the yarn of the stitch withrespect to another, as the length of the stitch increases, is reduced.Thus, the fabric formed is of more uniform and better quality.

The concept to improve the casting off by having the upper edge of theneedle shaft, and its beard, extend in a substantially straight line, oronly slightly angled, can be utilized with latching needles as well aswith closedtip needles. A latching needle, in accordance with thepresent invention, then will have a lower edge which is slightly angled,where the deviation from a straight line with the shank is leastbothersome, because it is closest to the previously formed stitch. Thus,with latching needles, the shaft is angled off at a point starting atthe throat at the lower, or under edge of the needle; while the upperedge of the tongue is in line, or substantially in line and onlyslightly deviating from the upper edge of the shaft.

The structure, organization and operation of the invention will now bedescribed more specifically in the following detailed description withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a side view of a needle of the present invention,when open, having a beard which is angled;

FIG. 2 illustrates the needle of FIG. 1, when closed, partly in section;

FIG. 3 illustrates a needle in accordance with the present invention, ina side view, having a straight heard, when open;

FIG. 4 is a needle in accordance with FIG. 3, when closed, partially insection;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 4 along line VV; and

FIG. 6 is a latching needle in accordance with the present invention, inside view, with the tongue closed.

A needle shaft 210 is formed with a groove 213 (FIG. 2) and has a needleheard, or tip 212, which fits into the resting groove 213 when theneedle is closed. Closing of the needle is done by the usual rail orpresser bar, which is not illustrated in the drawing and forms part ofthe general knitting machine. It acts at a point on the needle indicatedby arrow P.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a shaft210 which is straight up to the head of the needle 211. The needle tip,or beard 212 is formed with a portion 212 which angles off from astraight line at a bend point 212 leaving another portion 212 joinedwith the needle head 211, to form an acute angle with the shank 210. Asclearly seen in FIG. 2, when the needle is closed the tip portion 212enters the receiving groove 213. The depth of groove 213 is chosen insuch a manner that between the lower edge of the tip of the needle 212and the upper surface of the groove 213 a space 213 is left, which islarge enough in order to permit the yarn or thread to move within thegroove, even when the needle is closed, and to prevent pinching of thethread. The depth of closing is limited by the upper edge of the needleshank adjacent to the groove, seen at 210 The presser bar, or rail,which may be formed as a rod, a wheel, or other part of the machine thuscannot press the needle tip into the groove to such an extent that thetip, or the groove becomes damaged. In order to prevent damage to thethread due to misalignment of the needles, or slight imperfections inthe yarn being knitted, the tip of the beard, seen at 212 is bentdownwardly, hook-like, towards the shank 210, as clearly seen in FIGS. 1through 4. As particularly appears in FIG. 2, when the needle is closed,the relationships for transfer of the stitches are particularlyadvantageous. The stitch does not have to overcome any increase in size,or taper, and does not have to ascend over any projecting portions ofthe needl since the upper edge of the needle shaft 210 merges smoothlyto the upper end of the needle tip 212 The beard need not be angled, butmay be straight. Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, the needle tip 211 whenin closed position, is a straight line continuation of the upper edge210 of the shank. Thus, the bent point 212 (FIGS. 1 and 2) does notoccur in this form of needle construction. The needle, on the contrary,is formed in such a manner that the shank 210 itself is angled off inthe region of the groove 213 as seen at the portion 210 The needle beard212, starting at head 211, that is the entire upper edge of the needle2.11 is thus straight, so that the tip of the needle 212 is a straightline continuation of the front portion 212 of the beard (FIG. 3). Thetip end of the beard can be bent over again as seen at 212 FIG. 4.

FIGS. 3 and 4, and particularly the cross-sectional view of FIG. 5clearly indicate that the depth of closing is again limited by the upperedge of the shaft adjacent to the groove, as at 210 Even when the needleis closed, there is space for a thread A in the receiving groove 213, asclearly seen at 213 in FIG. 5.

It is common to both embodiments of the present invention, that is,FIGS. 1 and 2 and FIGS. 3 to 5, respectively, that when the beard 212 isclosed, the upper edge of at least a portion thereof, as at 212 ingeneral is parallel to the needle shaft, that is, the portion adjacentto the groove 210 and that a space 213 is provided between the bottom ofthe receiving groove 213 and the lower edge 212 of the needle tip (FIG.5).

The needle shank, at its head, is slight bent, as appears at 210 (FIG.4) and thus permits the heard to be straight. This concept can be usednot only with a beard-type needle, but also with a latch-type needle.Referring now to FIG. 6, the shaft 210 is angled in the region of itsthroat 213 as seen at 210 the upper edge of the tongue 215 in general isan extension of the upper edge 2 10 of the shaft, and is aligned withthe shaft or is angled with respect thereto only very slightly, as seenby the dashdotted line B. The needle is formed in general in such amanner that the depth of the needle at its intermediate part 216 ingeneral corresponds to the height of the needle head 211 (shownexaggerated in the drawing), inclusive of the tongue end 215 As has beenreferred to, a needle as constructed according to FIG. 6 provides for anunusually simple casting olf operation, thus resulting in finer and moreuniform knitted goods. The improved effect on the knitted yarn isparticularly apparent in the construction according to FIG. 6, becausethe increase in thickness of the tongue 215, as it extends towards theneedle head 211, inclusive of the tongue end 215 is usually quiteappreciable with needles of known construction. This substantial andrapid increase in thickness is avoided in the construction in accordancewith the present invention.

The needles themselves can be secured in the machines in which they areto be used in well-known and standard form, and the particularattachments are not shown herein.

The needles according to the present invention thus have the advantagethat the depth of entry into the receiving groove is limited by theupper edge of the needle shank itself, and not by the groove surface, sothat the tips of the needles are not subject to Wear. Thus, since theoperating parameters of the needle are determined not by the groove, butrather by the upper surface of the shank adjacent to the groove, thegroove can be made sufficiently deep in order to provide space for yarnand its free movement, so that a pinching or friction against the sidethereof is prevented. The longitudinal adjustment of the needles is notnearly as critical as with needles of the prior art, since the beard isindependent of bending. Thus, the needles have a long life in theirmachinery, further increased since the beard of the needles do not wearagainst the bottom of the groove. Due to the slender and gradual mergingof the needle tip with the shank, the goods to be knitted can be madedenser and finer, which means that the visual aspect of the goodsknitted on the machinery is more pleasing. The needles themselves areentirely interchangeable in the machineries with needles of knownconstruction, thus not requiring any re-working of existing machines.

What is claimed is:

1. Knitting machine needle, having a shank (210) ending in a tip portion(211) and a re-entrant beard (212) normally resiliently biased away fromthe shank of the needle (FIG. 1) in which the shank (210) is formed witha longitudinal groove (213) to receive a portion of the beard (212during knitting operations, characterized in that the upper edge (210 ofthe shank and the upper edge (212 of said portion of the beard, when theneedle is closed, are aligned; said portion of the beard (212) beingdimensioned (FIG. 5) to enter the groove (213) with clearance and leavespace (213 between the bottom of the groove (213 and the lower edge (212of the beard portion to permit free movement of the yarn to be knittedbetween the beard and the bottom of the groove, the upper edges of theshank (210 limiting the extent of entry of the beard into the groove;

the needle shank (210) is straight (FIGS. 1, 2) and said beard (212) hasa second portion (212 extending from the head of the needle (211) to anintermediate point (212*), said first and second portions being angledwith respect to each other.

2. Needle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tip end (212 of the beard(212) is bent over in a direction towards the groove (213).

3. Knitting machine needle, having a shank (210) ending in a tip portion(211) and a re-entrant beard (212) normally resiliently biased away fromthe shank of the needle (FIG. 3) in which the shank (210) is formed witha longitudinal groove (213) to receive the beard (212) during knittingoperations, characterized in that The upper edge (210 of the shank andthe upper edge (212 of the beard, when the needle is closed, arealigned; the beard (212) being dimensioned (FIG. 5) to enter the groove(213) with clearance and leave space (213 between the bottom of thegroove (213 and the lower edge (212 of the beard to permit free movementof the yarn to be knitted between the beard and the bottom of thegroove, the upper edges of the shank (210 limiting the extent of entryof the beard into the groove; the needle shank (210) has a head portion(210 in the region of the groove (213), said head portion (210 beingangled (FIGS. 3, 4') with respect to the remainder of the needle shank(2 10) in a direction away from said beard (212), said beard (212) beingsubstantially straight and, when the needle is closed, in line with theremainder of the needle shank. 4. Needle according to claim 3, whereinthe tip end (215 of the beard (212) is bent over in a direction towardsthe groove (213).

References Cited! UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,168,039 11/1916 Swinglehurst66-121 1,297,428 3/ 19:19 Wilcomb 66-419 1,885,097 10/1932 Hertan 66-119 2,699,053 1/1955 Noe 66- 121 2,872,799 2/1959 Porter et al. 66-119 XR3,258,938 7/1966 Hofmann 66--119 FOREIGN PATENTS 431,371 7/1926 Germany.

OTHER REFERENCES German Printed Application No. 1,212,241, Buck, March1966. 1

WM. CARTER REYNOLDS, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 66-121

